and while everyone in the world seems to be putting up blogs about New Years resolutions and such, I’m not feeling that love. But before the year ended I did find the time to put on my hard-hat and work clothes, and take a tour of the Tolladay Story Mine looking for lost stories and stray bits. As it happens, I ran across at least 10 different stories; some so small they practically fit in your hands, and others large enough to require a cart to move them.

Over the course of this new year its my goal to dust these lost stories off, clean them up as time allows, and place them here so you can look at them and marvel at their beauty, or alternately loathe them for their sad and pittiful construction. Alas, no other response is allowed.

As I stated the other day on Facebook, my only real goal this year is to write stories so incredible that once started they cannot be put down. Stories that sweet-talk you into a dark allay, and then smack you over the head. Leaving you dazed and confused, and not exactly sure where your time or your wallet went. Literary mugging, as it were.

To that end I started a new story on the 31st, and got most of it completed on the first. Its got high school aged friends at that awkward juncture where the new love interest starts to supplant the long-supporting friends. But because its comes from my fevered and twisted mind, its got computers, technology, and theaters from the future where one visits the “great outdoors” by walking into a building. Yes, I do love me my irony.

Look for it and other stories soon. I should put one up over the next day or so, as soon as I have time to go over the list and see which one requires the least amount of work. Alas, much as I love doing this, I also have a job, a family, and a house-note to cover. But you can be sure dear reader I am thinking of you.

Oh, and tell your friends.